4 Management Styles To Lead Your Team: Which One Is For You?

By Efa Yasin

January 27 2022 - Being a leader is not about motivating and inspiring people to do great things in today's world. It is about building a collaborative team that delivers high-quality work. Leading your team through the right style will make all the difference in helping you get the best results. Here are four management styles to consider when leading your team.

Authoritative management style

The authoritative leadership style is the most common among employees in a company. The leader will be rigorous, which can cause resentment if it is not conducted constructively to facilitate teamwork and improvement.

The benefits:

Team motivation increases when some rules or guidelines do not need intervention from leaders; therefore, these teams stay focused on their tasks and deliver higher quality results within deadlines.

This type of management encourages open communication with clear policies that allow all members equal participation by providing autonomy through delegation.

This approach produces more flexibility because each member has individual accountability for their own decisions, which makes it easier for them to improve work processes and deliver better quality results.

The drawbacks:

This leadership style can be detrimental if leaders cannot delegate authority effectively because the lack of delegation causes confusion among team members; therefore, they become ineffective in their tasks within deadlines. This type of management leads teams into chaos with no clear directions or policies on how things should be done so that significant issues arise.

Paternalistic management style

Paternalistic management is a leadership style that has strict rules and policies but with the expectation of no or limited input, which can be interpreted as micromanagement. This kind of approach encourages employees to behave in ways that leaders expect. The main objective behind this type of management is to make all team members feel comfortable, so they will want to do their best work; therefore, it prevents conflicts from arising among them due to disagreements over how things should be done.

The benefits:

Since there have been clear expectations set for teams since the beginning, they know what needs doing at any given time.

The drawbacks:

When there is no input from employees, it can be difficult for them to understand their job and how certain processes should operate.

This type of leadership style leads teams into confusion because all members do not have any control over their jobs or tasks; therefore, conflicts occur among team members due to different ways in which things should be done.

This kind of management also results in resentment between staff when people feel they are being treated because leaders give themselves an advantage by providing limited access while allowing others little freedom within team processes.

Consultative management style

Consultative management is a leadership style that focuses on listening to employees and being open with them while ensuring they have the resources, information, and support needed for teams to perform at their best. This approach helps leaders be more effective by providing themselves as equals among team members to communicate (Many small companies use Facebook groups to communicate.) freely without worrying about any repercussions from it.

The benefits:

By setting up this communication process, leader influence is minimized because people are free to express their viewpoints and ideas.

The drawbacks:

By creating this type of relationship, leaders make it difficult for employees to voice concerns or complaints because they are not allowed a true chance to speak freely about issues that may arise from the workplace.

There is no clear hierarchy on who is responsible for what. This approach also results in low productivity due to team members having little input into things such as how tasks should be completed.

Managers who take this approach to leadership may be seen as pushy and bossy by employees because they will control all of the decisions, which can result in low morale.

Participative management style

Participative management is a leadership style that emphasizes listening to people and making decisions without being influenced by them. It also means allowing employees as much input into company policy and operations for teams to have more control over their work environment but still maintain some degree of leader influence within team processes.

The benefits:

By implementing this type of approach, leaders can provide employees with opportunities for leadership development while simultaneously allowing them to voice decisions that affect them.

The drawbacks:

By not allowing for true leadership control, employees may be hesitant about completing tasks because they do not feel like their ideas are valued by the company, leading to low productivity.

This approach can also cause conflict between team members if there is no clear hierarchy which means everyone has an equal say. Still, no one person takes responsibility for decision-making.

Conclusion

There are four different management styles that you can choose from when leading your team. Each style has its benefits and disadvantages, so it's important to choose the one that works best for you and your company.

While this blog post focuses on leading a team, there are many other ways to manage your employees, including delegating tasks, giving feedback, and offering praise. If you have any questions about managing people or dealing with difficult situations at work, please let us know in the comments below!

About the author

Efa Yasin researches and writes articles on topics such as marketing, travel and tourism, information technology, and many more. Currently, she is writing for a marketing blog: aregs.com.

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